“Footprints of Time - Literary Figures and Their Sojourn in Hong Kong”: A Poet and His Muse – Yu Kwang-chung’s Poetry in Music

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Venue

Date & Time

Price

Gallery, Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware (Inside Hong Kong Park)

02.03.2013(Sat)03.03.2013(Sun)

15:00,20:0015:00,20:00

$200

Free Seating

Meet-the-Artists Session after each performance.

Reading in Cantonese.

Programme

Chen Mao-shuen

Titita

Lo Da-yu
(Arr. Phoebus Lee)

Nostalgia in Four Rhymes

Tang Lok-yin

The Sunflowers (World Premiere)

Julie Kuok

What is the Rain Saying through the Night
(World Premiere)

Yang Xian
(Arr. Leung Chi-hin)

Nostalgia in Four Rhymes

Hui Cheung-wai

The Night Watchman (World Premiere)

Chao Daijian
(Arr. Lesley Chan)

Nostalgia

Dennis Wu

Fire of Rebirth (World Premiere)

Ma Shui-lung

Titita

Jenny Chou
(Arr. David Quah)

The Answer

Chen Mao-shuen
(Arr. Dennis Wu)

On Such a Windy Night

David Quah

The Blind Fortune-teller (World Premiere)

Jenny Chou
(Arr. Dennis Wu)

Your Smile Last Night

Tai Ching-chuan
(Arr. David Quah)

Firefly

Richard Tsang

And When I Die

Reading in Cantonese

About the Programme

A Poet and His Muse – Yu Kwang-chung’s Poetry in Music

'There is poetry in music, and music in poetry.' Works of the renowned poet Yu Kwang-chung have long been hailed as poignant expressions of emotions – one can even feel the music behind the words as one reads them. His poems, therefore, are extremely popular with composers in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. They have been set to music to express nostalgia for the motherland, concerns for mankind, feelings of being at one with Nature, and reflections on the facets of Life. This programme, held at the quaint building of the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, will be a wonderful meeting of poetic verses and musical notes. Vocal works written by composers inspired by Yu’s poems in the last 30 years or more will be interlaced with the inspirational words of Yu himself. Be transported to and immersed in the world of the Muse.

Yu Kwang-chung

Yu Kwang-chung was born in Nanjing in 1928. He was a native of Fujian, and his mother and wife are both natives of Changzhou in Jiangsu. That is why he often describes himself as hailing from the region south of the Yangtze. He is an alumnus of Jinling University (Nanjing University today) and Amoy University (Xiamen University today). He graduated from the Taiwan University in 1952, and was awarded a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Iowa State University in 1959. He was a former professor of English at the Normal University of Taiwan, Chair of the Department of Western Languages and Literature at the Chengchi University in Taiwan, and a Reader in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Between 1985 and 1991, he was Dean of the College of Liberal Arts of the Kaohsiung Sun Yat-sen University, and was later on its faculty as the Sun Yat-sen Chair Professor, Kwang Hwa Chair Professor and Professor Emeritus, the last of which he currently holds today.

Professor Yu has won many accolades and awards, including the Award for Literature in Poetry of Taiwan, the Fok Ying-tung Achievements Award (2001) of Hong Kong, the Media Award for Chinese Language Literature (2004), the title Outstanding Alumnus of Taiwan University and the Award in Literature conferredy Venerable Master Hsing Yun Public Education Trust Foundation. He was conferred an honorary doctorate by The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2003 and another honorary doctorate by the Chengchi University of Taiwan in 2008.

Yu describes the range of his works as covering ‘four dimensions’, that is, poetry, prose, criticism and translation. His publications number more than 50 titles, including his poetry collections A Bitter Gourd Carved in White Jade, Dream and Geography; prose collections Listen to the Cold Rain, A Bronze Dream, etc. criticism collections From Xu Xiake to Van Gogh, Raise the Glass to Heaven and Laugh; translation collections Lust for Life, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Translation of the Famous Works of John Keats, etc. His translation of three of Oscar Wilde’s comedies has been staged in Taiwan and Hong Kong, with a touring of more than 60 shows. Poems Nostalgia, and Nostalgia in Four Rhymes have been set to music by many composers, including Li Tai-Hsiang, Yang Hsuan, Wang Luobin, Ma Shuilong, Chen Mao-Shuen and Richard Tsang.

Several of his poems and essays are included in text books for elementary and high schools and universities in Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia. Among them, Nostalgia enjoys the widest popularity. It was carved on a plaque and installed in the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu in Chengdu, China, in 2006. Yu was appointed Poet-in-Residence by the Peking University in 2012.

About the Performer

David Quah (Tenor)

Margaret Yim (Soprano)

Emily Liu (Mezzo-soprano)

Edmund Kwan (Bass)

Julie Kuok (Piano)

Dennis Wu (Programme Curator/Reader)

David Quah (Tenor)

Winner of the coveted Marianne Mathy Australian Singing Competition, Malaysian born David Quah made his professional debut singing Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Opera Queensland. He came back to Hong Kong in 2000 and started teaching singing and coaching at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He regularly performs in Southeast Asia and is very active in the local music scenes.

David has also appeared on concert platforms in various places including Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, the UK and the USA. He has given many recitals with repertoire ranging from Baroque music to contemporary works, Chinese folk songs to Broadway musical numbers. David is currently Chairman of Bel Canto Singers.

Margaret Yim (Soprano)

Margaret Yim graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) School of Music in 1994 with an Advanced Diploma, majoring in voice, studying under Dr. Margreta Elkins. In the same year of her graduation, she received the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund Scholarship and furthered her study in the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Australia under Professor Jane Delpratt. She won prizes from the Bach’s Music Competition in Australia 1995, Singing Contest for Asian Chinese in Taiwan as well as being the finalist of the San Francisco Opera Center Merola Program, 1994. Margaret is currently a vocal tutor of the HKAPA, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong Institute of Education.

Emily Liu (Mezzo-soprano)

Born in Guangzhou, Emily Liu received her Bachelor’s degree from Guangzhou Xinhai Conservatory of Music. Later, she received a full-scholarship to further her studies in vocal performance at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA). She obtained her Master of Music degree from the HKAPA in 2011.

In recent years, Emily had been selected for masterclasses with Kiri Te Kanawa and the late Licitra Salvatore. She has also received full scholarships from Laurence Scofield and L’AFLE to study language and singing in Italy and France in the summers of 2010 and 2011.

Edmund Kwan (Bass)

Edmund Kwan has had extensive experience in solo roles in both opera and oratorio. He has sung Oroveso in Bellini’s Norma, Johann in Massenet’s Werther, Neptune and High Priest in Cesti’s Il Pomo d’oro, Don Bassilio in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Maestro in Salieri’s Prima la Musica e poi le Parole, Schlendrian in Bach’s Kaffee Cantata and Tancredi in Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Dancairo in Bizet’s Carmen and Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Edmund has also appeared as soloist in concerts with a number of arts organizations in Hong Kong.

Julie Kuok (Piano)

Currently teaching at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), Chinese University of Hong Kong and Baron School of Music, Julie Kuok had her music education at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, the HKAPA and the Royal Academy of Music in London where she obtained the Master’s Degree of Music with the British Council Chevening Scholarship. Benefited from the tutelage of Gabriel Kwok, Sedmara Rutstein, Piers Lane and Ruth Nye, she developed herself as a fine pianist and became first-prize winner of the 1995 Oberlin Concerto Competition, the Second Hong Kong Open Piano Competition in 1995 and the Eighth Hong Kong (Asia) Piano Competition in 1996.

Julie has appeared as soloist and chamber musician locally and abroad given public music lectures and masterclasses, and acted as jury of competitions in Hong Kong and mainland.

Dennis Wu(Programme Curator / Reader)

Dennis Wu completed his undergraduate study of music in The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2000, and further obtained a Master’s degree in Music Composition in 2002. Wu has composed a number of chamber and choral works. With ten years’ experience in the Hong Kong music scene, Wu is an experienced administrator, having worked full time at the RTHK Radio 4 as a producer, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. He is also an active writer and music critic.

Ticketing

Tickets available from 2 Februaryonwards at all URBTIX outlets, on Internet and by credit card telephone booking.

Discount

Half-price tickets available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and minder, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients. (Limited tickets for CSSA Recipients available on a first-come-first-served basis.)

10% discount for each purchase of standard tickets for both 'A Poet and His Muse – Yu Kwang-chung’s Poetry in Music' and 'Forum: Music in Literature' of the 'Footprints of Time - Literary Figures and Their Sojourn in Hong Kong' series.

Patrons can enjoy only one of the above discount schemes for each purchase. Please inform the box office staff at the time of purchase.

Programme Length

Running time of this performance is about 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.

Audiences are strongly advised to arrive punctually. No latecomers will be admitted until a suitable break in the programme.

Enquiries

Programme Enquiries: 2268 7321

Ticketing Enquiries: 2734 9009

Credit Card Telephone Booking: 2111 5999

Internet Booking: www.urbtix.hk

The presenter reserves the right to change the programme and substitute artists should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.

The content of this programme does not represent the view of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.